


A Brother in Arms

by inlovewithimpossibility



Series: cerys' s8 episode codas [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Episode: s08e01 Starling City, F/M, John Diggle and Oliver Queen are Brothers, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-31 02:49:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21055397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithimpossibility/pseuds/inlovewithimpossibility
Summary: “I just… she really found me and sent you here?” He asks quietly and John’s face morphs from concern into a sad smile as he nods.“Oliver, you know she’d be here herself if it weren’t for Mia.”“I… it’s been a week. She said she’d find me but I didn’t expect…”Missing moment from 8x01 where John and Oliver discuss Felicity finding Oliver and sending John to Earth-2 to help his brother.





	A Brother in Arms

He tries not to give himself too much time to think. Time to think always leads back to one thing.

_His family. _

With John’s arrival on Earth-2, his mind has never been far from his wife. The idea that she had already found him and sent him help that, whilst he’s trying hard to pretend he doesn’t want, he knows deep down that he needs.

This is his final mission. He feels a responsibility to complete it on his own.

But it’s also John and he’s been there from the very beginning. The only thing that would more of a soothing balm to his soul would be the opportunity to see Felicity, William, and Mia one last time before he…

This is why he doesn’t give himself time to think.

“Oliver? You okay, man?” John’s voice breaks him out of his thoughts and Oliver blinks, looking up at the man he considers his brother. He briefly considers brushing him off, assuring him that he’s fine, but he knows that John knows him better than that.

“I just… she really found me and sent you here?” He asks quietly and John’s face morphs from concern into a sad smile as he nods.

“Oliver, you know she’d be here herself if it weren’t for Mia.”

“I… it’s been a week. She said she’d find me but I didn’t expect…” He tells his brother, breathing deeply as he fully allows himself to think. He has no doubt of his wife’s brilliance but this isn’t exactly hacking into ARGUS to stop a threat in Star City. Surely the entire universe must leave some degree of difficulty. John snorts and shakes his head, his smile growing as he sits down next to Oliver.

“Oliver, this is Felicity we’re talking about. Your wife could probably beat every government agency in the world in a hacking race.” He reminds him and Oliver frowns.

“How do you even hack a multi-verse?” He poses and John snorts again with a shrug. Oliver knows that even if Felicity had explained herself, it probably wouldn’t have made much sense to John.

“I don’t know but if anyone does, it’s Felicity Smoak.” John tells him with his usual pride whenever he speaks of Felicity. It’s a tone Oliver knows well, it’s very similar to his own whenever he discusses his wife’s achievements. She’s a remarkable woman and they’re both so proud of her.

Her boys, as she always used to say.

The thought of her and Mia, all alone in that cabin, cuts him to the core. The image of her buckling to her knees as he left has been haunting him since he took the first step away from her. He has to admit that the image of her hacking furiously to find him across the multiverse is a comforting one when he left her in such distress.

“She’s… she’s okay?” He asks, swallowing heavily as he blinks back the tears that spring to his eyes. John smiles at him in that soothing way and his cheer is everything Oliver needs right now.

“I’d say she’s doing about as well as you are, mate. But you know, she’s always been high functioning.” John reminds him with a small chuckle and Oliver grimaces. He’s a mess, he’s well aware of that. Up to this point, however, there’s been no one else of import to see how much of a mess he is.

“Yeah.”

“I think she’s more relaxed now, knowing that I’m here. The idea of you taking on something this big on your own, it terrified her, I think.” John continues and just like always, he knows the exact right thing to say. It correlates well with what Oliver knows to be true of his wife, she’ll never rest if she thinks there’s something she can do.

“And Mia? Did you…?” Oliver cannot help but ask, images of her beautiful little face immediately appearing in his mind. It’s only been a week but he wonders whether she’s passed any more milestones, whether she’s grown at all. Felicity kept describing her as a weed, her body forever getting longer and longer.

A smile splits across John’s face, a full one this time, and Oliver heaves a relieved smile at what it implies. “That’s one cute kid you’ve got yourself there, Oliver.”

“Did she smile at you? She’s the cutest when she’s smiling. Just like her mother.” He can’t help the fatherly pride that runs through him. He’s still in disbelief that William and Mia are his children, that he had any input into creating two such incredible beings, but he’ll be damned if he isn’t going to celebrate just how incredible they are every chance that he gets.

With John here now, he doesn’t have to keep his fatherly pride in. John knows about Mia, has seen her even…

“Oh yeah, I was full on Smoaked.” His best friend admits and Oliver’s proud smile grows into a full on grin of his own as he remembers the first time Mia sent her gummy little grin his way. He swears his heart grew an extra chamber in that moment.

“She did it before the average too. All the books and websites and things said she probably wouldn’t smile until 12 weeks. She did it at 10.” Oliver states with a decisive nod and John snorts once more, shaking his head.

“You know those things are averages for a reason, right?” He tells him with a raised eyebrow and Oliver frowns. He knows that he’s probably going a bit overboard but he’s not had anyone to rant to about just how advanced his baby girl is.

“Digg, let me have this, please. My daughter is as brilliant and talented as her mother and I will hold onto that, thank you very much.” He replies decisively with a nod and John chuckles, shaking his head.

“She’s a wonderful little girl, Oliver. I’m not denying that at all.” John tells him with a smile before it drops a little. The large man waits a beat before he takes a deep breath and Oliver frowns, wondering what has caused this quick a shift in the man’s mood. “She told me to tell you something. Felicity, not Mia, obviously. Do you… do you want to hear it?”

Oh.

Oliver’s grateful for the warning and the ability to back out if he wants to. He considers it for a moment, wanting to cling to the knowledge of her words that he already has. He knows that she will find him, she’s already demonstrated that, and that their love is bigger than the universe.

He particularly likes that one.

The idea of refusing what she wants him to hear is impossible though. If there’s something that she wants him to know, he needs to know it, else the ‘what if’ will haunt him until his final day.

“Tell me.” He asks and John nods, regarding him with that small smile before he takes a deep breath.

“She said to say that she and Mia love you more than she can say and to remember that you’ll be with each other, no matter how far apart you roam.”

John’s voice is slow and steady, a mile away from Felicity’s own rushed and heavily intonated speech pattern but Oliver hears only his wife as his friend relays her words. They’re exactly what he needs to hear right now, to imagine her in front of him, the calming feeling of her arms around him…

It’s nothing that he didn’t know already but the reminder is exactly the strength he needs to keep fighting.

He thought he needed to do this alone, to face his final fight solo, but Felicity, as always, knows him better than himself.

He’s doing this for her, for their family, for William and Mia, so that hopefully, they can grow up in the world that isn’t plagued with the same issues as their parents faced.

They are his reason and the reminder that she’s there with him, despite them literally being worlds apart, is what he needs to find the strength to wipe his tears and stand up.

“Oliver?” John asks, his brow furrowing as he looks up at his friend. Fortified with the knowledge of his wife’s support, Oliver takes another deep breath and smirks, inclining his head towards the door.

“Come on, we’ve got a multiverse to save.”


End file.
